By Andy McCue, 5 January 2005 16:20
NEWS The IT and business functions of local authorities are divided over whether they will meet the 2005 e-government deadline for putting services online, according to new research.
Two-thirds of IT managers in local authorities said they felt confident about meeting the deadline using current resources but only a third of senior business managers agreed.
The business managers also expressed concern over the costs of hitting the 2005 target and almost half said it is putting pressure on their local authority and driving reviews of current IT systems.
Rob Neil, head of ICT at Ashford Borough Council, agreed that there is a gap between the two but said it is a matter of perception.
"Too few business heads have really engaged with the e-government agenda and still perceive it as an IT function. When you get buy-in from business units for an e-government initiative, then everyone can see the benefits but for many people e-government still gets consigned to the bottom of a long list of things to do," he said.
The research was carried out by Coleman Parkes among 70 IT directors and senior business managers in UK local authorities, and was commissioned by IT outsourcing firm Sx3.
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